Senate summons Shell, others over Bonga oil spill

[DT]

The Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology has summoned management of Shell Petroleum Company and officials of the Ministry of Environment over spill oil spill in Bonga deep water facility off the coast of Nigeria.

Briefing newsmen yesterday, Chairman of the committee, Senator Bukola Saraki (PDP, Kwara Central) said the committee in exercise of its oversight function will conduct comprehensive investigation into the oil spillage. He said "the information suggests that this spill has released over 30,000 barrels of oil spilled off the Nigerian coast. It will be recalled that the last time Nigeria had this level of spillage was in 1997 from Mobil Producing facility in Nigeria."

Also to appear before the Senate committee are officials of the Ministry of Environment, National Environmental Standards and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to find ways of containing the situation.

Saraki said NOSDRA as the agency directly responsible for checking oil spill in the country lacks necessary technical equipments to control the situation.

"To the best of our knowledge NOSDRA lacks the necessary equipments such as boats, vessels to navigate the typical terrain where most of this spill took place. The agency now relies almost exclusively on the grace and benevolence of the oil companies in this case Shell," he said.

Saraki said the Senate committee will ensure that international best practices that guide oil companies in terms of clean-up operation for the oil spill is strictly adhered to.

DailyTrust